Request for clarification: ship combat

from GalCiv2 Forums
The manual description of combat (pp 47-48) is inconsistent with the fleet combat simulator. While the manual states that an attack of A rolls between 1 and 6, I suspect what actually happens is a roll between 0 and 6; the declared behavior of defense rolls is off in a similar way.

I would be grateful if someone official could spell out in detail exactly what is really going on. I'm most concerned with what happens when mixed attacks meet mixed defenses: What is the resulting damage if an attacker rolls 5-5-5 and a defender rolls 1-6-9? Is the extra defense pooled before or after the square root is taken? Is it sqrt(5) or sqrt(1) + sqrt(4)? What is the precise algorithm for calculating damage?

Also, how is the "most dangerous and most easily destroyed" ship in a fleet determined?
Thanks in advance.
6,146 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As far as I can tell, attack rolls from 1 to the maximum. I've never seen zero damage done to a ship with zero defense.

But defense seems to roll from 0 to its maximum. I've seen ships with 1 attack damage ships with 1 defense.

As for mixed attack and defenses, I think this is mostly covered in the manual. Different types of weapons all fire seperately, and each seperate shot is affected by all of the target's defenses. Basically, putting multiple types of weapons on one ship is a big waste. Non-optimal defenses are added together before the square root is take. I think Brad said this in some post, but I don't remember where.

So, say a ship with 20 beam attack and 10 mass driver attack shoots at a ship with 12 shields, 8 armor, and 4 point defense. Roll 1 to 20 for beam damage. The defense against beams is 12 + sqrt(8+4). So roll 0 to 15 for beam defense (the sqrt rounds down). The difference between the attack and defense rolls is the damage. For mass driver attack, roll 1 to 10 for attack, roll 0 to 8+sqrt(12+4) = 12 for defense. Then add the damage done in the beam attack to the damage done in the mass driver attack, and that's the damage displayed in the combat viewer.

I'm pretty sure that's how it works. Feel free to correct me if anyone's seen evidence that says otherwise. I have no idea how the "most dangerous and most easily destroyed" is determined.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
0 damage is dealt all the time. Try putting a ship with 1-0-0 attack against a 0-0-0 defense in the fleet combat simulator they made available in this forum. The simulator could be wrong, but...

The mixed attack vs mixed defenses is not covered accurately or thoroughly in the manual. The manual really drops the ball, imho.

I think your description of mixed attack vs mixed defense is off, as you effectively have the defense value being rolled once for each damage type. It's my understaning that the attack is rolled once, and the defense is rolled once, although I may be wrong.
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Er... correction.

nullspace appears to be correct that 0 damage is not dealt against ships with no defenses. So, the fleet combat simulator is off... sheesh.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Er... correction.

nullspace appears to be correct that 0 damage is not dealt against ships with no defenses. So, the fleet combat simulator is off... sheesh.